Bruno's Blog – a complete animal at work

Arf arf – did I call her that? You remember the Bichon Frise? Bitch-on-heat Frise, I wish, what with her hanging out in my office all the time…

I went skidding through the consulting room today – they’ve just done something weird to the floor that makes it even harder turning corners – and found myself face to face with the biggest monster dog you ever saw. When you’re only a few inches off the ground (remember we’re talking diminuitive Jack Russell here) what they seemed to be referring to as a Grot-wailer suddenly took me back to that evening hiding under the bed watching King Kong. Not fair.

Went to school the other day – the girl at home had forgotten something, apparently, so the old man had to take it for her. I was hiding in his rucksack but took a peek out through the grill – so many noisy kids. What a nightmare. Poor her having to spend all day there. I mean I suppose she does. Mind you the woman often gets cross with her for being late back so maybe she doesn’t, I don’t know. Crap dinner tonight – no gravy.

The old man was a bit crabby with me this morning because I’d taken a crap on the carpet during the night. It’s his fault anyway – he didn’t take me out for a decent walk before bed last night. Just because it was raining and I didn’t want to go. He should’ve taken me anyway.

So there he was, sulking over the breakfast table. I even tried to look contrite, but being a Jack Russell, that didn’t really work. Eventually he caved in and tossed a raw chicken wing out into the garden for my breakfast. At least I think that’s what it was.

Things were looking up.

Onto the bike and off to town, loads of traffic, which I hate but eventually we got to the park. He let me out and then seemed to hang around near the bin as if I was going to have another dump. Durr…

At the clinic, Andrea had brought in this little Bichon bitch she’s looking after, and she hung out in the office with me quite a lot. I managed to get a few quick goes at shagging her before the old man noticed and told me off, but she’s not really my type. What would they call the pups? Bichon Russells? Jack Frises? Another slight point in her favour is that her human also rides a Harley, but I don’t really like ours, so maybe the whole thing’s not such a good idea.

Late home after barking at the dorks exercising in the park. Barking at anything, actually.

Just recovering after 2 days at Discover Dogs last weekend – great to meet so many of you. Leah, Andrea and I (accompanied by my children, of course) spent many happy hours chatting to breeders, exhibitors and other assorted dog owners and pet obsessives, distributing our Discover Dogs special offer tokens (didn’t get one? Should’ve been there…!).

It really does seem that more and more of you are realising just how much you can save by buying your pet’s medicines online.

Vetscriptions started out – before the prescribing and dispensing laws all changed – as a way of distributing nutriceuticals, because we found that not nearly enough people were using them, in many cases because their vets were not familiar with their use.

Nutriceuticals are defined as products purified from natural foods that provide medical or health benefits including the treatment and prevention of chronic disease. In the veterinary field that includes the joint supplements such as Cosequin and Synoquin, then Ipakitine for kidney failure, Phytopica for eczema, Hepatosyl for liver disease, Aktivait for brain ageing, CoEnzyme Q10 and L-carnitine for heart disease, the list goes on and on.

Then the law changed and we moved into Prescription Medicines as well. Some of you are reporting to us that your vets are sometimes reluctant to issue prescriptions instead of selling the medication at their prices. Now we understand why, but maybe you – and your vets – should think about this: you are sensible people, really committed to looking after your pets in the best way you can, but probably working on some sort of a budget. Now if you can save a bit of money buying the medicines you need online, doesn’t that then leave you with a bit extra in your budget to spend at the vets when you need it, for the dental work that you might otherwise have put off for another few months, for the extra blood test that might finally give you the diagnosis, for the extra consultation when you’re not quite sure if you’re out of the woods yet?

We don’t think that’s such a bad thing at all, and since we work out of our own veterinary practice, we know exactly how often these situations arise.

Cheaper medicines rock!

“I want one of those injections for pervy virus”

Bruno’s brother and sister are both in at the clinic this morning for some dental work – should just be simple descaling and polishing although Bandit does have one tooth that is so badly misplaced, we’ll have to remove it.

Much wagging of tails as you might imagine, but then we are talking relentlessly sociable Jack Russell terriers… So one question, I suppose, is ‘Do they recognise each other as brothers and sisters or is this just generic meeting and greeting?’. We’ll keep you posted as the day goes by – what do you find? Is it different with family?

The other issue is about dental work, dental disease, dental problems. These dogs are only just over 2 years old and already have significant amounts of dental calculus along the outer surface of their molar teeth. Bruno’s mouth smells like an old drain sometimes, and this despite a fairly healthy diet that includes the obligatory raw chicken wings.

We are great fans of raw chicken wings, as is he. In fact for a dog who generally views food with disdain, a raw chicken wing qualifies for three Michelin stars.

Think of a wing as a small bundle of toothpicks wrapped in dental floss and rawhide chew. Oh and it’s meat protein just as nature intended together with calcium and phosphorus. More soon